Equipment Platform Fabrication

For a platform that carries equipment, the structural question is the path the loads take: the weight of the equipment and the loads it generates in use are picked up by the base, passed through the portal frames and their bracing into the platform deck, and from there into the main structure below. Any joint along that path that is not properly handled costs the assembly its stiffness, and over time the connections are where fatigue begins.

The work falls into a workshop stage and a site stage. Beams, columns and bracing are cut, assembled and welded in the shop; on site the platform deck is laid, openings are cut to suit the positions of the bases, the portal frames are erected and welded, and the surfaces are treated and the grating laid. Member sizes, the arrangement of the bracing and the method of fixing the bases are designed around the specification of the equipment carried and the loads it imposes.